Facebook’s
stock price soared 6.5% in after-hours trading to $131.40, as of 5:15
p.m. Eastern time Wednesday. The rise followed the company’s
announcement that revenues and earnings had eclipsed analysts’
estimates, primarily thanks to gains in mobile ad revenue. Revenues in
the second quarter rose about 59% to $6.44 billion, topping the $6.02
billion that analysts predicted. Profits increased to $2.1 billion, or
71 cents a share, exceeding analysts’ estimates of 57 cents a share.
In
April, Zuckerberg’s fortune rocketed up by $4.2 billion in after-hours
trading after Facebook’s strong first-quarter earnings. Like other
billionaires who hold the vast majority of their wealth in one company’s
stock, his fortune can rise or fall by billions of dollars in minutes
or hours, following quarterly reports or other major company news.
At
age 32, Zuckerberg is the youngest of the world’s ten richest people.
He first appeared on the Forbes 400 in September 2008 with a net worth
of $1.5 billion, when Facebook was still a private company. Since its
IPO in May 2012, Facebook stock has risen nearly 223%, catapulting him
into the ranks of the five richest people on Earth. Besides Bezos, only Bill Gates, Amancio Ortega, Warren Buffett and Bezos are wealthier.